Who was Pink Floyd's Best Song Writer?

[sambojoho]

Syd Barrett without question...I am surprised he has barely been mentioned. Piper at the Gates of Dawn is by far the best album of the late '60s psychedelic movement and quite possibly the best album in the bands career. He just had a natural touch to songwriting that both Roger and Dave didnt quite seem to have. Sure, they were fantastic songwriters as well, but even they will admit to it, which is made apparant on the 'Syd Barrett story' documentary. There was just this magical feel to his songs that I can't really describe and I can certainly say that few could ever match.

I agree with you that syd was amazing (RIP). I also think that Piper is the best psychdelic 60s album (followed by Sgt. Peppers and Satanic Majesties, IMHO). I think DSOTM is a better Floyd album though. Aside from Piper, the singles not on that album, such as See Emily Play, Arnold Layne, and Candy and a Currant Bun are outstanding as well. He declined very quickly though, as I was not that impressed with his post-Floyd solo Madcap Laughs album.

 

[Talking Meat]

Syd Barrett's music is held in about 100000x higher regard on the internet than in real life. Piper > Animals.....good laughs.

 

[stonehart]

Thanx people. I really mean that about rick.. Dave is the golden boy But without the rest he is just another guitar player.. but god I love the way that man plays guitar..

 

[funeralportrait91]

I'd vote Waters, as he wrote the majority of the PF's golden age if I remember correctly. But Gilmour was amazing too. Shame they don't get along these days.

 

[truhlo]

Oddly i asked myself the same question just a few days ago, and now i came across this interesting thread. Anyway, back in the days when i used to be completely absorbed by PF's music (DSOTM and WYWH were life defining albums for me) i didnt know anything (or even cared!) about who wrote certain PF songs that i liked so much. This is how i feel about it nowadays...

I think Piper... is a great album, but Waters and Gilmour took the band to new heights on further releases. Im not much into PF albums turned into (almost) Roger's solo projects (The Wall, TFC, although there are brilliant songs on these albums of course), and im not into PF albums that dont feature Roger either...

So i suppose the most logical answer would be to say that to this very day i prefer "classic" PF albums that featured notable contributions from both Waters and Gilmour (and occasionally Wright as well), and that sort of combined Roger's prominent songwriting with Gilmour's incredible musicianship and guitar taste... I also like Dave's voice a lot.

 

[philno]

lol, syd barrett and piper have nothing on 70's pink floyd

 

[Phoenix5]

Rog for sure.

 

[Depth Perception]

Let's get this settled once, and for all since I see there are a lot of fans here. I say it definitely wasn't Syd since all his stuff sounds like the typical psychedelic pop for the time to me. David has written some of their best songs notably Comfortably Numb although I've heard disputes on who actually wrote the song. I'd definitely have to say Roger because WYWH-TFC era was by far the best time for the band imo. No doubt he was the best lyricist of the band, and overall easily the best songwriter. However I do think David was the strongest musician in the band, and had a sense of knowing exactly when, and when note to play the right notes second to none. I've always been more partcial to Rogers Vox too even though I like David's I find Rogers more interesting although I know a lot prefer David's more traditional tone. When you compare albums like The Final Cut against the likes of Momentary Lapse it all becomes pretty clear though. TFC is a very personal extremely well written record where MLoR has only a few good tracks such as One Slip, and Yet Another Movie, but never reaches the depth of TFC. Thus my vote goes to Roger. There's no doubt though when they worked together they were unstoppable, and complimented each other perfectly. Roger was the writer where David added all the special musical nuances.

Discuss.

I completly agree with you in every single way. Gilmour is one of, if not my favourite guitarist of all time and a huge inspiration to my playing, but Waters indeed is the greater composer and had the entire picture in his head.

I'll agree with the majority. Can't have one without the other.

Then how do you explain their solo albums? On an Island was incredible.

 

[Don Corleone]

waters waters waters
no question about it. his song-writing is dark and mature compared to anyone else in the band